DAY 8: AGREDS IN ABOGBOSHIE

We spent our 8^th day at AGREDS (Abogboshie Ghana RElief and Development Services), a home that welcomes about 100 girls from age 16 to 19 during a period of 9 months. All these girls have been specifically picked out from the streets of different villages because each of them was facing a type of child labour (child trafficking, child sale, child worker, child prostitution, child pornography and many more). During this period of 9 months, the girls learn how to rehabilitate themselves in everyday life and learn key life values. For instance, they learn about sexual reproduction, sexual health and healthcare such as malaria and cholera. They learn practical skills such as cooking, sewing, nail painting and hairdressing in order for them to start their own businesses once they return to their villages and never be faced to child labour again. For some of these girls, it is like a second chance and they are very lucky to have been chosen out of the thousands of girls facing child labour everyday in Ghana.

AGREDS is located in a very poor region of Greater Accra, in Abogboshie. The streets were extremely polluted and covered with trash everywhere. It was so dense full of people. Upon our arrival, the AGREDS team welcomed us and explained their project and what happened at the girls’ centre. Each time, we spent around one hour and a half with each group of girls. It was a completely different approach than when we were with the children. This time, these girls were around our age and there was a different connection. It was like we could communicate as friends and we could be completely honest with each other. While we were with the children, we tried to play games and try to have lots of fun. With the girls, we had real conversations; they were very interested in what we studied, where we lived, if we had a boyfriend/girlfriend… All the girls were so nice and charming.

While we were at the hairdressing and nail fashion classroom, the girls insisted on painting our fingernails, which was a really nice bond. They had such beautiful smiles on their faces. It broke my heart a little bit when I would see some girls with scars on their faces or numbers tattooed on their arms. At the cooking station, the girls showed us how they had learned to cook apple pie, which smelled delicious. They all had little chef hats and aprons on which were all really cute. Once at the sewing classroom, one of the girls showed us this very detailed school outfit she sewed out of orange fabric. All these abilities demand a lot of patience and skills, which they learn during these 9 months.

At the end of the day we gathered the whole iCAN team, the staff of AGREDS and all the girls in the main room. We offered clothes and shoes to them (that we had also bought before our arrival in Ghana with the money we raised) and the girls were very pleased. They very quickly started expressing they joy by singing to us. Very soon, it became an African dance and everyone joined in! It was fun and really unique. We started performing the dance moves that the children had taught us the day before and that caused a lot of the girls to laugh and enjoy the moment even more.